Tuesday, April 19, 2005

We Have a Pope!

Apparently, the smoke was indeed white. The bells are now tolling across the Vatican and throughout the city of Rome, as we celebrate the election of our new Pope! In about one-half hour, he will be introduced to the world from the front balcony of St. Peter's Basilica.

Before that happens, however, he will don his new papal vestments. The Cardinals not elected will then swear their allegiance to the new Pope one by one before the rest of the world sees him for the first time.

No need to be shocked. That news article is old stuff, and it has already been debunked by none other than the Jerusalem Post.

Here is the full article, in response to the Sunday Times:

By Sam Ser, THE JERUSALEM POST Apr. 18, 2005

London's Sunday Times would have us believe that one of the leading contenders for the papacy is a closet Nazi. In if-only-they-knew tones, the newspaper informs readers that German-born Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger was a member of the Hitler Youth during World War II and suggests that, because of this, the "panzer cardinal" would be quite a contrast to his predecessor, John Paul II.

The article also classifies Ratzinger as a "theological anti-Semite" for believing in Jesus so strongly that – gasp! – he thinks that everyone, even Jews, should accept him as the messiah.

To all this we should say, "This is news?!"

As the Sunday Times article admits, Ratzinger's membership in the Hitler Youth was not voluntary but compulsory; also admitted are the facts that the cardinal – only a teenager during the period in question – was the son of an anti-Nazi policeman, that he was given a dispensation from Hitler Youth activities because of his religious studies, and that he deserted the German army.

Ratzinger has several times gone on record on his supposedly "problematic" past. In the 1997 book Salt of the Earth, Ratzinger is asked whether he was ever in the Hitler Youth.

"At first we weren't," he says, speaking of himself and his older brother, "but when the compulsory Hitler Youth was introduced in 1941, my brother was obliged to join. I was still too young, but later as a seminarian, I was registered in the Hitler Youth. As soon as I was out of the seminary, I never went back. And that was difficult because the tuition reduction, which I really needed, was tied to proof of attendance at the Hitler Youth.

"Thank goodness there was a very understanding mathematics professor. He himself was a Nazi, but an honest man, and said to me, 'Just go once to get the document so we have it...' When he saw that I simply didn't want to, he said, 'I understand, I'll take care of it' and so I was able to stay free of it."

Ratzinger says this again in his own memoirs, printed in 1998. In his 2002 biography of the cardinal, John Allen, Jr. of the National Catholic Reporter wrote in detail about those events.

The only significant complaint that the Times makes against Ratzinger's wartime conduct is that he resisted quietly and passively, rather than having done something drastic enough to earn him a trip to a concentration camp. Of course, whenever it is said that a German failed the exceptional-resistance-to-the-Nazis test, it would behoove us all to recognize that too many Jews failed it, as well.

If he were truly a Nazi sympathizer, then it would undoubtedly have become evident during the past 60 years. Yet throughout his service in the church, Ratzinger has distinguished himself in the field of Jewish-Catholic relations.

As prefect of the Doctrine of the Faith, Ratzinger played an instrumental role in the Vatican's revolutionary reconciliation with the Jews under John Paul II. He personally prepared Memory and Reconciliation, the 2000 document outlining the church's historical "errors" in its treatment of Jews. And as president of the Pontifical Biblical Commission, Ratzinger oversaw the preparation of The Jewish People and Their Sacred Scriptures in the Christian Bible, a milestone theological explanation for the Jews' rejection of Jesus.

If that's theological anti-Semitism, then we should only be so lucky to "suffer" more of the same.

As for the Hitler Youth issue, not even Yad Vashem has considered it worthy of further investigation. Why should we?

Yeah, it does feel weird. Like wondering who stole the real Pope and when they're going to give him back.

However, as I read more, I must admit...Not a bad choice.

I agree with JPost, there's no truth to the Nazi allegations, and Ratz - er, Benedict is *very* sharp in any case. I do disagree with him theologically (I'm more pragmatic than Church teaching, in many ways), but I think he'd be a good Pope. Not really my first choice (I wanted Scola), but not a bad choice.

Ben the 16th sounds like his heart is in the right place, but I have doubts. He isn't as charismatic or confident as John Paul, which attracted many of us young people to the Catholic faith. I hope Ben the 16th addresses the social issues in South America as well, like the Protestant evangelists that are winning many souls. At any rate, God Bless Ben and give him the knowledge and ability to revitalize and govern the church!

GOD HELP POPE BENEDICT XVI RID CUBA OF COMMUNISMJoseph Ratzinger understands first hand how hate and communism can plague a nation, as he himself fell prey to the nazis as a child. So please, Pope Benedict XVI help Cuba's children experience enlightenment and help them find freedom from persecution and a dictatorship that underlines hate and oppression.

I'm delighted with Benedict's election, though I'm certain it will expedite the schism of the Catholic democratic church of America. During and for some time after Vatican II I was a hearty proponent of changes in liturgy and other reforms, but of late, have felt much uneasiness at the fractured application and abandonment of core principles. If it’s not dancing girls during Good Friday services, it’s poly-lingual masses on Sundays, and applause at every nit-witted drop of the hat. The reverence and sacredness have been lost. I think we have been so concerned about losing members that we forgot to do the work, live the word, and let the Lord take care of the count. I’m hoping Benedict XVI will, as his choice of names telegraphs to me, a re-consecration of purpose and return to reverence.

A passing comment about yesterday -- I was fortunate enough to be watching it live from the moment the smoke started coming out. After ten minutes of confusion and the 6 PM bell ringing, is when I saw something that sent a chill through me and that will stick forever.

The crowd was really insisting it was white, but some reporters were saying no, and everyone was confused that the bells hadn't started -- all eyes were on the great bell (whose name I forgot) but it was silent. Even through the 1800 ringing of the clock bells

Then, without warning it started to move, slowly at first, making a few silent pendulum swings as the bell and clapper hand't quite made contact (its a BIG bell), and then letting out with one clarion gong and then pealing for fifteen minutes.

Those few minutes as that silent bell swayed, straining to ring, to confirm what the crowd already suspected, were truly one of the most memorable moments of the day.

Of course once the pealing started, the chills down the spine were beyond belief

THE NEWLY ELECTED POPE WILL NOT BE AS NEUTRAL AS THE LATE POPE JOHN PAUL 2 .SURELY THERE'S SOME POLITICAL MOTIVE BEHIND THIS MOVE. YOU WILL FEEL IT IN THE COMING MONTHS. NOW, WE ARE ENTERTING THE LAST AND THE CRUCIAL PHASE OF THE UNIVERSE. THIS IS THE AGE OF ARMEGADDON AND SURELY I CAN SAY THAT THE POPE MUST BE AN EXPERT ON ISLAM AND JEW.NOW AND IN PAST ALSO ALL THE POLITICAL MOVE WHICH YOU OBSERVED AND WHICH IS OUT OF OUR SIGHT WILL BE DEFINED BY THIS RELIGIOUS FIGURES, NOT BY THOSE WHOM WE SAW AS THE CURRENT LEADERS TODAY.SO PREPARE FOR THE FINAL FIGHT, IN WHICH THE TOUGHEST CAN SURVIVE.EST OF LUCK.

Yo, Anonymous, have you read any background on Benedict or are you parroting/plagiarizing the comments of ill willed/uninformed? Does the term conscripted mean anything to you? Or am I to suppose the same guy who won't ID himself on a simple blog would stand up to Hitler’s SS and refuse to dig ditches for the Reich?

I have studied Latin through high school and college and am proficient in the language. However, its continued use in the litugy following Vatican II that promoted the vernacular in worship stricks me as pure assininity! To most individuals, Latin is pure mumbo-jumbo and to what purpose in worship and liturgy? If someone feels the need for mumbo-jumbo, watch EWTN network. There's plenty of that nonsense on there.

There are plenty of people who consider the Vatican II promotion of the vernacular to be the "pure asininity" (I speak as a non-Christian observer).Remember,Jews all over the world use Hebrew in worship,Moslems use classical Arabic whatever their background.There is something to be said for having one uniting language of all worshippers throughout all places and times.